Tommi

the intensity of attention that notices the quiver of a wrist when reaching for a glass; the presence that enlarges an ordinary afternoon; the appetite that doesn’t require catastrophe to be vivid. I want Romanticism stripped of its operatic melodrama, no consumptive poets dying by candlelight, yet still devoted to grandeur: a sentence that... See more

A call to playfulness is not an individual psychological prescription – it is a call to collective action against the achievement society.

Spend twice as long on your intro paragraphs as the rest of the post. Earlier this year, I came across the following idea: Readers don’t have short attention spans—they have short enchantment spans. There’s an infinite amount of content out there, and readers know it. The introduction convinces a reader that their finite time alive is best spent... See more

whenever feeling grows too intense, state, church, or family rush in to discipline it, proof that Romanticism has always threatened any order built on obedience and efficiency.

Write an essay inspired by something one of your classmates has said or written; just give them credit. Writers are magpies. We observe, mimic, remix and remake. Being transparent about how our work exists in community is great.

Maybe the most drastic kind of attention is the one that doesn’t try to make anything of you, just allows you, finally, to be with yourself.